Mechanical reinforcement of electrospun water‐soluble polymer nanofibers using nanodiamonds

Optimization of the mechanical properties is necessary in the applications of electrospun nanofibrous matrices. In this work, mechanical reinforcement of electrospun nanofiber membranes of water‐soluble polymer by the incorporation of commercial nanodiamonds (NDs) was studied. Through an ND/poly(vinyl alcohol) (ND/PVA) model system, it is demonstrated that 155% improvement of Young's modulus, 89% increase in tensile strength, and 336% elevation in energy to break are achieved by the addition of only 2 wt% ND. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy results suggest the existence of molecular interactions between NDs and PVA matrix, which contributes to the effective load transfer from the polymer matrix to the fillers. However, higher level of ND addition (>2 wt%) aggravates the agglomeration of nanofillers in PVA matrix and offsets the reinforcing effect, as ND agglomerates may act as flaws in composite nanofibers. Furthermore, NDs have optimizing effect on the morphology of ND/PVA nanofibers through increasing the conductivity of the electrospinning solution. Therefore, ND nanofillers possess the potential to improve the mechanical performance of water‐soluble polymer‐based nanofiber membranes. POLYM. COMPOS., 34:1735–1744, 2013. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Release behavior from hydrogen‐bonded polymer gels prepared by pressurization

Our previous research showed that a simple ultra‐high‐pressure process made poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) solution into a macrogel and nanoparticles. To investigate the release properties of PVA hydrogels prepared by the ultra‐high‐pressure treatment, we prepared hydrogels containing model drugs by pressurizing a PVA solution with Alfa‐G Hesperidin or Oil Blue N as a water‐soluble or an oil‐soluble model drug, respectively. In the case of the oil‐soluble drug, an oil‐in‐water emulsion, Oil Blue N containing dodecane in a PVA solution, was used by homogenization before pressurization. The average diameter and the diameter distribution of oil droplets before and after the ultra‐high‐pressure treatment were almost the same. However, the PVA hydrogel prepared at 10,000 atm for 10 min exhibited the slowest release rate of model drugs. Thus, we found that the release rates of the model drugs from the PVA hydrogels were controlled by the degree of crosslinking in the resulting gels, which was determined from the operation parameters of the ultra‐high‐pressure treatment, such as the pressure, time, and concentration of the PVA solution. Therefore, an ultra‐high‐pressure process is promising for drug‐carrier development because of the nonharmful simple preparation process. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011     

Controlled mechanical and swelling properties of poly(vinyl alcohol)/sodium alginate blend hydrogels prepared by freeze–thaw followed by Ca2+ crosslinking

Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/sodium alginate (SA) blend hydrogels have immense potential for use as functional biomaterials. Understanding of influences of processing parameters and compositions on mechanical and swelling properties of PVA/SA blend hydrogels is very important. In this work, PVA/SA blend hydrogels with different SA contents were prepared by applying freeze–thaw method first to induce physical crosslinking of PVA chains and then followed by Ca²⁺ crosslinking SA chains to form interpenetrating networks of PVA and SA. The effects of number of freeze–thaw cycles, SA content and Ca²⁺ concentration on mechanical properties, swelling kinetics, and pH‐sensitivity of the blend hydrogels were investigated. The results showed that the blend hydrogels have porous sponge structure. Gel fraction, which is related to crosslink density of the blend hydrogels, increased with the increase of freeze–thaw cycles and strongly depended on SA content. The SA content exerts a significant effect on mechanical properties, swelling kinetics, and pH‐sensitivity of the blend hydrogels. The number of freeze–thaw cycles has marked impact on mechanical properties, but no obvious effect on the pH‐sensitivity of the PVA/SA blend hydrogels. Concentration of CaCl₂ aqueous solution also influences mechanical properties and pH‐sensitivity of the blend hydrogel. By altering composition and processing parameters such as freeze–thaw cycles and concentration of CaCl₂ aqueous solution, the mechanical properties and pH‐sensitivity of PVA/SA blend hydrogels can be tightly controlled. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012     

Porous boron nitride nanofibers/PVA hydrogels with improved mechanical property and thermal stability

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogel is a promising material possessing good chemical stability, high water absorption, excellent biocompatibility and biological aging resistant. However, the poor mechanical performance of PVA hydrogel limits its applications. Here we report the utilization of one-dimensional (1D) BN nanofibers (BNNFs) as nanofillers into PVA matrix to prepare a novel kind of BNNFs/PVA composite hydrogel via a cyclic freezing and thawing method. For comparison, the composite hydrogels using spherical BN nanoparticles i.e. BN nanospheres (BNNSs) as fillers were also prepared. The mechanical properties, thermal stabilities and swelling behaviors of the composite hydrogels were investigated in detail. Our study indicates that the mechanical properties of the hydrogels can be improved by adding of BNNFs. After loading of BNNFs into PVA with content of 0.5?wt%, the compressive strength of the composite hydrogel increases by 252% compared with that of pure PVA hydrogel. The tensile performance of BNNFs/PVA composite hydrogels has also been improved. Impressive 87.8% increases in tensile strengths can be obtained with 1?wt% BNNFs added. In addition, with the increase of BNNFs content, the thermal stability and the swelling ratio of hydrogels are increased gradually. The swelling ratio of hydrogel increases by 56.3% with only 1?wt% BNNFs added. In comparison, the improvement effects of the BNNS fillers on the mechanical strengths and swelling ratios are much weaker. The enhanced effects of BNNFs can be ascribed to the strong hydrogen bond interaction between BNNFs and PVA. The high aspect ratios of the nanofibers should also be took into account.     

Role of solvent on structure,viscoelasticity, and mechanical compressibility in nanocellulose-reinforced poly(vinyl alcohol) hydrogels

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) reinforced polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-based hydrogels with high water content and tunable mechanical properties that can be molded in to any desired shape are presented in this work. Freeze thawing of PVA-CNC solutions in a mixed solvent system of dimethyl sulfoxide and water enabled to produce a set of physically crosslinked hydrogels with tunable mechanical properties. It was observed that the composition of the solvent altered the mechanical properties and network structure in the hydrogel systems. Differential scanning calorimetry was used to understand the thermal events behind solvent effect on the properties of the hydrogel. Optical microscopy results suggest that these hydrogels possess a macroporous structure. Furthermore, dynamic viscoelastic analysis and axial compression tests have shown that the viscoelastic and mechanical compression properties of the hydrogels improved upon reinforcement with CNC. Overall, the hydrogel enjoys appealing properties as a synthetic biomaterial for soft tissue applications. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136, 47044.     

In situ formed internal water channels improving water swelling and mechanical properties of water swellable rubber composites

In this study, electrospun nanofibers of poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and styrene–butadiene–styrene triblock copolymer (SBS) were employed in conventional water‐swellable rubber (WSR) to design WSR composites with improved water swelling and mechanical properties. With the introduction of PVA nanofibers, considerable improvement in elasticity, strength, and water‐swelling behavior was observed. After immersion, PVA nanofibers dissolved within the composite to in situ form water channels to connect isolated super‐absorbent polymers (SAPs). Those water channels led to an increase in water uptake by the WSR composite. Furthermore, the secondary water‐swelling behaviors of the WSR composite showed a remarkable increase in swelling rate as well as in mechanical properties. The addition of SBS nanofibers had a marked impact on the mechanical properties of the WSR composite. Their roles became more pronounced after water immersion. The proposed enhancement mechanism is also discussed. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017 , 134, 44548.     

Preparation of novel bilayer hydrogels by combination of irradiation and freeze–thawing and their physical and biological properties

BACKGROUND: Hydrogels made by irradiation or freeze–thawing often exhibit poor mechanical strength; therefore we investigated a novel synthetic method to circumvent this detrimental effect. We report a series of novel bilayer poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/water‐soluble chitosan (ws‐chitosan)/glycerol hydrogels prepared by a combination of irradiation and freeze–thawing. Scanning electron microscopy morphology, swelling behavior, mechanical strength, elongation at break, PVA dissolution behavior and bovine serum albumin (BSA) release profile of the bilayer hydrogels were compared with those of hydrogels made by irradiation and freeze–thawing followed by irradiation. The cytotoxicity of the bilayer hydrogels was studied using a tetrazolium salt (MTT) assay. RESULTS: The novel bilayer hydrogels contain one layer made by freeze–thawing followed by irradiation and the other layer made by irradiation. The preparation method provides the two layers with good combination force in the wet state. However, the two layers are not combined very well in the freeze‐dried state due to the difference in microstructure. The bilayer hydrogels have large swelling capacity and good mechanical strength, and these properties can be varied by changing freeze–thawing cycles, irradiation doses and the relative thickness of the two layers. The PVA and BSA release behaviors show that the bilayer hydrogels have a small amount of dissolved PVA and can prolong the BSA release time. The MTT assay shows that extracts of the bilayer hydrogels are non‐toxic towards L929 mouse fibroblasts. CONCLUSION: The novel bilayer hydrogels prepared in this study show good physical properties with no cytotoxicity, indicating that they are suitable for biomedical applications, such as in wound dressings and drug delivery devices. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry     

Green fabrication route of robust,biodegradable silk sericin and poly(vinyl alcohol) nanofibrous scaffolds

Silk sericin (SS) has been extensively used to fabricate scaffolds for tissue engineering. However, due to its inferior mechanical properties, it has been found to be a poor choice of material when being electrospun into nanofibrous scaffolds. Here, SS has been combined with poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and electrospun to create scaffolds with enhanced physical properties. Crucially, these SS/PVA nanofibrous scaffolds were created using only distilled water as a solvent with no added crosslinker in an environmentally friendly process. Temperature has been shown to have a marked effect on the formation of the SS sol–gel transition and thus influence the final formation of fibers. Heating the spinning solutions to 70 °C delivered nanofibers with enhanced morphology, water stability and mechanical properties. This is due to the transition of SS from β‐sheets into random coils that enables enhanced molecular interactions between SS and PVA. The most applicable SS/PVA weight ratios for the formation of nanofibers with the desired properties were found to be 7.5/1.5 and 10.0/1.5. The fibers had diameters ranging from 60 to 500 nm, where higher PVA and SS concentrations promoted larger diameters. The crystallinity within the fibers could be controlled by manipulation of the balance between PVA and SS loadings. In vitro degradation (in phosphate buffer solution, pH 7.4 at 37 °C) was 30–50% within 42 days and fibers were shown to be nontoxic to skin fibroblast cells. This work demonstrates a new green route for incorporating SS into nanofibrous fabrics, with potential use in biomedical applications. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry     

Harmless hydrogels based on PVA/Na+‐MMT nanocomposites for biomedical applications: Fabrication and characterization

A series of nanocomposite hydrogels were prepared by a freeze‐thaw process, using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as polymer matrix and 0–10 wt% of hydrophilic natural Na‐montmorillonite (Na⁺‐MMT), free from any modification, as composite aggregates. The effect of nanoclay content and the sonication process on the nanocomposite microstructure and morphology as well as its properties (physical, mechanical, and thermal) were investigated. The microstructure and morphology were investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and X‐ray diffraction technique. The thermal stability and mechanical properties of nanocomposite hydrogels were examined using thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, dynamic mechanical analysis; moreover hardness and water vapor transmission rate measurements. It was concluded that the microstructure, morphology, physical (thermal) and mechanical properties of nanocomposite hydrogels have been modified followed by addition of nanoclay aggregates. The results showed that Na⁺‐MMT may act as a co‐crosslinker. Based on the results obtained, the nanocomposite hydrogel PVA/Na⁺‐MMT synthesized by a freeze‐thaw process, appeared to be a good candidate for biomedical applications. POLYM. COMPOS., 38:1135–1143, 2017. © 2015 Society of Plastics Engineers     

The effect of graphene nanofiller on the crystallization behavior and mechanical properties of poly(vinyl alcohol)

The effect of graphene on the crystallization behavior of graphene/poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) nanocomposites is investigated in terms of the heterogeneous nucleation effect using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. Nanometer‐sized graphenes with disc‐type shape are successfully fabricated by transversal cutting of platelet carbon nanofibers, and the graphene/PVA nanocomposites are prepared by varying the concentration of graphene using a solution‐casting method. The graphene/PVA nanocomposites exhibit an enhanced degree of crystallization, increasing to 18.8% at a graphene concentration of 0.5 wt%. The graphene acts as an effective nucleating agent during the crystallization process, enhancing the degree and rate of crystallization. In addition, the graphene/PVA nanocomposites with a high graphene content have markedly improved mechanical properties. Mechanical properties, including hardness and elastic modulus, of the prepared graphene/PVA nanocomposites are analyzed using an atomic force microscopy nanoindentation method. The graphene plays a key role in increasing the crystallinity by acting as an effective nucleating agent at low concentrations (<1.0 wt%) and in enhancing the mechanical properties by acting as a nanofiller at high concentrations (>1.0 wt%).     

Preparation and characterization of poly(vinyl alcohol) nanocomposites made from cellulose nanofibers

A method using a combination of ball milling, acid hydrolysis, and ultrasound was developed to obtain a high yield of cellulose nanofibers from flax fibers and microcrystalline cellulose (MCC). Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) nanocomposites were prepared with these additives by a solution‐casting technique. The cellulose nanofibers and nanocomposite films that were produced were characterized with Fourier transform infrared spectrometry, X‐ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. Nanofibers derived from MCC were on average approximately 8 nm in diameter and 111 nm in length. The diameter of the cellulose nanofibers produced from flax fibers was approximately 9 nm, and the length was 141 nm. A significant enhancement of the thermal and mechanical properties was achieved with a small addition of cellulose nanofibers to the polymer matrix. Interestingly, the flax nanofibers had the same reinforcing effects as MCC nanofibers in the matrix. Dynamic mechanical analysis results indicated that the use of cellulose nanofibers (acid hydrolysis) induced a mechanical percolation phenomenon leading to outstanding and unusual mechanical properties through the formation of a rigid filler network in the PVA matrix. X‐ray diffraction showed that there was no significant change in the crystallinity of the PVA matrix with the incorporation of cellulose nanofibers. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009     

Highly Stretchable,Fast Self‐Healing,Responsive Conductive Hydrogels for Supercapacitor Electrode and Motion Sensor

Conductive hydrogels as potential soft materials have attracted tremendous attention in wearable electronic devices. Nonetheless, manufacturing intelligent materials that integrate mouldability, stretchability, responsive ability, fast self‐healing ability, as well as mechanical and electrochemical properties is still a challenge. Here, multifunctional conductive hydrogels composed of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and polypyrrole (PPy) nanotube are prepared using borax as cross‐linker. The existence of multicomplexation, entangled PVA chains, and interconnected PPy nanotubes, as well as extensive hydrogen bonding results in the fabrication of hierarchical network of PVA‐PPy hydrogels. PVA‐PPy hydrogels exhibit high stretchability (more than 1000%), multiresponsiveness, low density (0.95 g cm^?3), high water content (96%), and 15 s self‐healing features. Furthermore, the self‐healing supercapacitor electrode and motion sensor based on PVA‐PPy hydrogels demonstrate ideal performances. This facile strategy in this work would be promising to construct an excellent multifunctional soft material for various flexible electrode and biosensor.     

聚乙烯醇纳米纤维膜的制备

采用静电纺丝方法制备了聚乙烯醇(PVA)纳米纤维,探讨了工艺参数对纳米纤维形貌的影响,并对PVA纳米纤维膜进行热处理,研究了热处理时间与温度对纳米纤维膜力学性能的影响。研究表明:PVA质量分数在6%~10%区间内变化时,可得到直径分布较为均匀的纳米纤维;在其它条件相同时,随纺丝电压的升高,PVA纳米纤维的不匀增大;接收距离的改变对PVA纳米纤维的直径变化影响不大;随PVA质量分数的增加,纳米纤维膜的断裂强度和断裂伸长率逐渐增大;在热处理时间相同时,PVA纳米纤维膜的断裂强度随温度的升高而增大;处理温度相同时,随处理时间的延长,PVA纳米纤维膜的断裂强度变化不大。     

Improvement of the water resistance of atactic poly(vinyl alcohol) nanowebs by a heat treatment

Nanoscale materials can be rationally designed to exhibit significantly changed physical, chemical, and biological properties because of the extremely small dimensions. Therefore, atactic poly(vinyl alcohol) (a‐PVA) nanowebs by an electrospinning technique have very high water solubility because of their nanoscale in comparison with microscale materials such as fibers and films. In this study, a‐PVA nanowebs were prepared via electrospinning under suitable conditions to form PVA webs with uniform nanofibers (fiber average diameter = 200 ± 50 nm), not a bead or bead‐and‐string morphology. Furthermore, to improve the water resistance of the water‐soluble a‐PVA nanowebs, the PVA nanowebs were heat‐treated at various heat‐treatment temperatures. The melting temperature of the heat‐treated PVA nanowebs shifted toward a lower temperature with an increase in the heat‐treatment temperature, and this indicated that micronetwork domains formed. Moreover, with the exception of a PVA nanoweb treated at an excessive heat‐treatment temperature, the heat‐treated PVA nanowebs showed higher crystalline and mechanical properties than a pure PVA nanoweb. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2007     

High strength and toughness of double physically cross-linked hydrogels composed of polyvinyl alcohol and calcium alginate

The weak mechanical properties of hydrogels, especially physically cross-linked hydrogels are usually a major factor to hinder their application. To solve this problem, in this work, we prepared a high strength and toughness of double physically cross-linked (PDN) hydrogels composed of crystalline domain cross-linked polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and Ca²⁺-cross-linked alginate (Alg). With a further annealing treatment, the noncovalent cross-linked network via the formed crystalline promote the as-prepared PDN PVA/Alg hydrogel to exhibit well mechanical properties with the tensile strength of ~1.94 MPa, elongation at break of ~607% and Young's modulus of ~0.45 MPa (above 70 wt% of water content). By analyzing the mechanism of improving the hydrogel mechanical properties, it is found that annealing can effectively improve the crystallinity of PVA in the hydrogel, and then greatly improve the mechanical properties of the hydrogel. This provides a general method for improving the mechanical properties of PVA PDN hydrogels. In addition, the PDN PVA/Alg hydrogel was also proved to have good ionic conductivity of 1.70 S m⁻¹. These desirable properties make the prepared physically cross-linked hydrogels promising materials for medical and biosensing fields.     

Dispersion of soybean stock‐based nanofiber in a plastic matrix

The focus of this work is the study of the dispersion mechanism of soybean stock‐based nanofibers in a plastic matrix. The cellulose nanofibers were extracted from soybean stock by chemo‐mechanical treatments. These are bundles of cellulose nanofibers with a diameter ranging between 50 and 100 nm and lengths of thousands of nanometers. These nanofibers were characterized by atomic force microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. X‐ray diffraction studies showed that the soybean stock nanofibers had a relative percentage crystallinity of about 48%. Selective chemical treatments increased the cellulose content of soybean stock nanofibers from 41 to 61%. The matrix polymers used in this project were poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and polyethylene (PE). The mechanical properties of nanofiber‐reinforced PVA film demonstrated a 4‐ to 5‐fold increase in tensile strength, as compared to the untreated fiber‐blend‐PVA film. One of the problems encountered in the use of nanoreinforcements lies in the difficulty in ensuring good dispersion of the filler in the composite material. Improved dispersion level of nanofibers within a thermoplastic was achieved by adding ethylene‐acrylic oligomer emulsion as a dispersant. In the solid phase of nanofiber‐blend‐PE composites, the compression‐molded samples showed that improved mechanical properties were achieved with coated nanofibers. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry     

Novel preparative method for porous hydrogels using overrun process

Porous poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) hydrogels were prepared using the overrun process which is usually used in manufacturing ice cream. The pores in the hydrogel formed exhibit dual‐pore structure due to the injection of air bubbles and ice recrystallization. Morphological investigation revealed that overrun‐processed hydrogels had closed pore structures and that their pore size and size distribution had been influenced by the impeller rate and concentration of polymer solution. The closed‐pore structure was reformed into interconnected open‐pore structure at lower concentrations of the solution. The freeze–thawing process, which takes place in PVA cross‐linking, has no effect on the bubble structure, but removes the small pores formed during ice recrystallization. Besides the swelling ratio of overrun‐processed PVA hydrogels is increased tenfold in comparison with non‐porous hydrogels. Overrun‐processed hydrogels showed more rapid swelling kinetics than freeze‐dried and film‐like hydrogels due to their larger surface area. In the future, the overrun process can be applied to prepare porous scaffolds containing proteins, such as growth factors and other cytokines, without denaturation, because it operates at a low temperature. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry     

Cross-linked electrospun polyvinyl alcohol/sodium caseinate nanofibers for antibacterial applications

In this study, the polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and sodium caseinate (SC) nanofibers were produced by a single-fluid electrospinning method from their blends. Afterward, the cross-linking process with two different methods was applied to the PVA/SC (70/30, v/v) ratio, which was selected according to the surface and mechanical properties of the electrospun mat. In the first method, different ratios (15%, 20%, 25%, and 30%) of glutaraldehyde (GLA) cross-linking agents were added to the PVA/SC solution and then, PVA/SC/GLA nanofibers were obtained. In the second method (in-situ method), the nanofibers obtained from the PVA/SC solution were cross-linked by dipping into the cross-linking solution. After, PVA/SC/GLA/Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NP) mats were obtained by adding ZnO NP at different rates to the PVA/SC/GLA (7030-25GLA) solution, which was chosen according to the results of thermal, mechanical, and moisture test. In addition, performing tests, a cytotoxicity test for fibroblast cell line (L929), and in vitro antibacterial test for Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were also applied to them. Therefore, the usability of PVA/SC/GLA/ZnO NP nanofibers as an antibacterial effective wound dressing was investigated. Due to the high toxic effect of GLA, it was found that PVA/SC/ZnO cross-linked nanofibers are not suitable for wound dressing use. However, it was determined that the PVA/SC nanofiber cross-linked by the in-situ method had high cell viability according to the cytotoxicity test result and thus could be used as a fibroblast tissue scaffold.     

Preparation of poly(vinyl alcohol)/poly(acrylic acid)/TiO2/carbon nanotube composite nanofibers and their photobleaching properties

The composite nanofibers of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/poly(acrylic acid) (PAAc)/titanium(IV) oxide (TiO₂) were prepared by electrospinning for a novel photocatalytic treatment of waste water. To improve the photoelectronic properties of PVA/PAAc/TiO₂ composite nanofibers, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were used as an additive. The TiO₂ and CNTs were immobilized in the PVA/PAAc hydrogels as electrospun nanofibers for an easier recovery after the wastewater treatment. The improved efficiency of pollutant dye removal was observed at pH 10 due to the pH-sensitive swelling behavior of the PVA/PAAc/TiO₂/CNTs composite nanofibers. The photocatalytic activity of TiO₂ was improved noticeably by applying electric field to the CNTs-embedded composite nanofibers.     

Properties of electrospun poly(vinyl alcohol) hydrogel nanofibers crosslinked with 1,2,3,4‐butanetetracarboxylic acid

ABSTRACT: Electrospun nanofibrous hydrogel membranes have been gaining significant importance due to the combination of unique physical properties of nanofibers and biocompatibility of hydrogels. Thus, they are considered as potential candidates for medical textile applications. This study deals with electrospinning of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) hydrogel nanofibrous membranes. The chemical crosslinking of PVA with proportionate quantities of 1,2,3,4 butanetetracarboxylic acid (BTCA) was undertaken to form hydrogel structures. Cross‐linked membranes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, FT‐IR and thermogravimetric analysis, water swelling, and durability tests. FT‐IR analysis demonstrated the formation of ester linkages between PVA and BTCA and thermogravimetric analysis showed that crosslinking improved the thermal stability of the nanofibrous structure. Furthermore, the results indicated that crosslinking with BTCA improved water stability of PVA membranes and the nanofibrous structure was preserved after water treatment. It is envisaged that use of BTCA as a cross‐linker to form hydrogel nanofibers could be a practical and a promising method for medical textile applications, especially for wound dressings given its nontoxicity and immiscibility with polymer solutions. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013